Never knew what a block heater was 'till I was stationed in N.D. I almost lost a 340 in a '70 Duster because I didn't have enough coolant in the engine. It was a 4 spd. car, so I used to have to park so I could take off in 1st in the morning. The 90 wt. in the trans would get so thick (or frozen), I couldn't shift the thing for a couple of blocks.